Capo's Restaurant and Speakeasy — Restaurant in Spring Valley

Capo's is a very unassuming Italian eatery a few miles off the Strip on Sahara Blvd. In fact, you probably wouldn't even notice it as you were driving past it. Other than it's unassuming sign, there is no real advertisement for the restaurant.

However, despite its low-key nature, Capo's is one of Las Vegas's hidden gems. It's a truly unique and fun restaurant experience that is extremely hard to find elsewhere, and I consider it one of my favorite Italian eateries in town.

What makes Capo's special is the experience one has when eating there. It's styled like an underground speakeasy from the prohibition era. Before you can enter the building, you have to ring a bell and be admitted by a doorman, who's appropriately "wise guy" in his speech. Once inside, the ambiance of Capo's meshes with it's 1930s mobster theme. The restaurant is DARK. It could be bright daylight outside, but you'd never know it being inside Capo's. In addition to the low lighting, the walls have faux-wood paneling and red leather booths. Seriously, the whole restaurant looks like something out of Goodfellas.

Capo's adds to the ambiance with a plethora of old-school crime movie memorabilia. The Rat Pack, Al Capone, and The Godfather are all represented. Sometimes a live lounge signer will sit at the restaurant's piano and croon some vintage Sinatra while crime movies play silently above the bar and in the private dining rooms.

The service at Capo's is excellent as well. The waitstaff is extremely attentive and professional. Not only is your food served quickly, but you're never wanting for drink refills.

I'm going to be honest about the food at this restaurant. It's not the best Italian food you'll ever eat. I've had a wide variety of dishes here and they range from amazing to mediocre. I can say that the pasta is always good and the steak dishes are solid. All their pasta is made in-house and comes with a variety of sauces. My favorite is the buttery and creamy fettuccine alfredo. I've also greatly enjoyed their chicken selections, particularly the Chicken Anastasia (breaded and fried chicken breast, stuffed with spinach and cheese). Their wine selection is good as well.

What makes Capo's menu stand out, however, are its gluten free options. Capo's is one of the few Italian joints I've found that actually offers a large selection of gluten-free pasta for those with sensitivities to enjoy. All the gluten-free pasta is made by their chef in-house. For those with gluten allergies, Capo's is a great option to enjoy classic Italian fare. Probably their best gluten-free dish is the butternut squash ravioli. It's very good! I've included a photo of all their gluten-free selections along with my review in case anyone is interested.

Capo's is a great place to visit if you're from out of town and want a unique dining experience. Every visitor to Las Vegas I take here has a blast because it's so different from other Italian restaurants. Capo's is also a great date spot, because of the moody lighting, the crooning lounge singer, and the intimate nature of their booth seating. Plus, if your date is unfamiliar with Capo's, it can leave quite a positive impression. And, of course, anyone with a gluten sensitivity can't go wrong eating here.

Capo's is not really a family-friendly restaurant, however, so you may want to think twice before bringing children with you. It doesn't have a kid's menu and some of the movies they play on their TVs can be R-rated. If you want to check the place out, I'd recommend leaving the kids with a sitter.

I very much recommend Capo's, and the only thing keeping me from giving it a full 5 stars is that the quality of their food varies so much. That being said, I have always enjoyed my meals here and had a blast while eating them. I love this restaurant and the experience it gives me, and I'm positive you'll love it too. Try to check it out at least once, and be sure to tell them "Matty...

I'm updating my review here because I'm a bit frustrated. The food is still some of the best Italian I've had in Las Vegas and the experience that the restaurant has put together is pretty great. The problem is the service. The first time I ate here, it was with a buddy and we sat at the bar. We were well cared for by the bartender and loved it. I was so impressed that I decided to bring my wife back for our wedding anniversary. Again, the food was great and she loved it and she was enjoying the experience until the servers wrecked it. She believes, and rightly so, that if you are paying this much money to eat somewhere, the service should be reasonably good. If she is dissatisfied then it's a bad experience for her and she doesn't want to come back. I will say that there were enough issues with service during our visit that if the food and ambiance were not as good as they are, I'd knock this down to one star. We had to ask several times and waited more than 20 minutes at one point for drink refills. This was the first problem. The second problem was that servers kept snatching plates off of our table while we were still eating. Let me be very clear. Particularly at these prices, if I've only eaten half of something, I'm absolutely taking the part I didn't eat home to finish later. What could possibly make them think that it's OK to just snatch stuff off our table without even asking? The first time it happened, I caught the guy and made him leave it. The second time I had turned to help my wife with something and he was across the room before I started yelling for him to come back. He did not hear me and I ended up having a manager replace the dish. This sort of stuff makes my wife uncomfortable and detracts from the experience for her. She was starting to get frustrated at this point. The final straw for her was when we asked for to-go boxes for our leftovers and they didn't bring us enough lids. After asking multiple times and waiting around for another 15 minutes as the servers we asked were observed floating around the room, she finally got mad and went to the bar and asked for a lid there, where she got it. We packed up but never saw any of the three servers we asked for the lid again. Thanks for wrecking our wedding anniversary dinner for my wife and by extension, for me. I don't think she'll ever want to go back again and pay to treated this way and that's a shame because we both really did love the food and overall ambiance of the restaurant. If it had been only one of these things, I think it would have still been fine but at the end, they just stacked up and we paid about $300 for...

Capo's was a real treat. From the nondescript plain looking building in a strip mall to the speakeasy feel getting in, to the amazing Maitre'D Bobby, to the fantastic live singing from David, to the best and sweetest bartender Gyrie (?), to the amazing old school Italian food. This place was the highlight of our trip and will now and forever be a regular stop when we're back in Vegas.

Bobby the Maitre'D is one of the coolest, most interesting guys I've met in the restaurant industry. He's busy running around checking people in, seating them, talking with everyone and ensuring all their meals are to their liking and having a nice time. David the entertainment for the evening was fantastic. He sang songs from Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin (Rat Pack era) and transformed the atmosphere back to the 1940's. Some of the songs sounded spot on with "Ol Blue Eyes"... I could spend every weekend listening to him. And last but not least is Gyrie the bartender. She was the nicest, most friendly bartender I've ever run into in Vegas and despite that, she would rate up there with one of the best bartenders anywhere I've been. She also makes a fantastic Negroni!

Now, I haven't even mentioned the food yet, but this is old school Italian like you might find in Little Italy in Manhatten or Chicago or what an Italian grandmother might make for a Sunday supper. The spicy meatball is one "spicy meatball" and is so filling. The marinara sauce it comes with is thick and plentiful and make sure to use that warm garlic bread to mop up the rest of it. The lasagna is massive! Full of meat, thick baked cheese and again, a heavy portion of marinara sauce. And the chicken marsala was a tender pounded chicken breast with deep and flavorful marsala and perfectly sauteed mushrooms.

Capo's was just an unbelievable experience that far exceeded any of our expectations. And it is now one of our favorite restaurants anywhere. We will not only be back to see Bobby, David, and Gyrie but will be telling all of our friends about it and our experience there.

Get off the strip, save some money, and treat yourself to one of the best kept experiences Las Vegas...